Oops, it's been a while since my last post, apologies, all got a bit hectic for a while but I shall try to ensure it doesn't happen again!

We've had lots happening - International Biological Diversity Day (or Biodiversity Day for short) where I finally got to meet and interview Chris Packham (well, I was excited, even if most of my friends didn't know who I was talking about!), half term holidays with a range of drop-in events with our scientists, the May evening event (very topical, all about synthetic biology) and plenty more besides.

Right now, I'm preparing for a daytime event tomorrow all about Richard Owen (ever heard of him?!) and this month's evening event - Six-Legged Wonders: The Return! http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/events/programs/naturelive/six-legged_wonders%3A_the_return.html?date=24.06.2010 The perfect night out if you'd like to learn more about the mini-beasts in our collections and sample some edible insects! We'll be joined by Erica McAlister (our infamous diptera blogger) plus a butterfly/moth curator and a soil biologist (who secretly prefers worms from insects but we're going to try and convince him that six-legged creatures are more interesting!) If you can't make the event, fear not, we'll be tweeting live (@NatureLive) during the event with all the juicy bits!

For a sneak preview of what we'll be discussing on 25th March and the chance to see one of our speakers in action (Rob Parry-Jones from TRAFFIC Europe) have a look at - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX1ewcnlbDA

Richard Sabin from our Mammal Department uses microscopes to identify whether products siezed by HM Revenue & Customs have been made from protected species such as elephant and rhino. But scientists elsewhere use DNA to identify species - such as in this film which shows how shark fins can be tested and the species of shark identified.

A couple of weeks ago I hosted an event with mammal curator Richard Sabin. Richard helps to look after the mammal collections here at the museum, but is also involved in helping HM Revenue & Customs crack down on the illegal trade in endangered animal species.

When customs find suspicious items being shipped or flown into the country, they turn to Richard to help them find out whether the bracelet/ornament/piece of furniture in question is made of a harmless material or whether it contains components of an endangered animal.

Richard specialises in hard materials, such as bone and horn. By studying items closely underneath microscopes, such as the bracelet above, he is able to spot the tell-tale signs that suggest what it has been made out of (ie plastic, bone or horn) but also what animal it may have come from. Incredibly, the tusks, horns and teeth of different species have different characteristics which, after years of training and experience, Richard is able to recognise.

The illegal trade in endangered species is an ongoing and international problem. Some say that it is worth more than the arms trade. It's an issue that is being tackled by governments and independent organisations around the world, but one that is far from black and white. There are many reasons for why people chose to kill and sell endangered animals, and many different demands for how these animals are used such as to make medicine, jewellery and food.

CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international agreement between governments, which aims to ensure that the survival of plant and animal species is not threatened by trade. It influences legislation and laws that help protect threatened species. The 175 governments that have signed up to CITES are currently meeting in Qatar to discuss new measures and suggest changes to previous guidelines. At the top of the agenda are issues such as banning the trade of blue-fin tuna and legalising the sale of ivory stockpiles.

We'll be discussing the work of CITES and extent of the illegal trade at this months evening event, Crossing Borders: The Illegal Trade in Endangered Species on Thursday 25th March. Tickets are available on our website and by phone 020 7942 5555. Richard Sabin will be speaking about his involvement, as well as representatives from TRAFFIC (the wildlife trade monitoring network), Defra and a researcher from Oxford Brookes University who is involved in undercover work in South East Asia.

The first question for me (embarrassingly) was 'what are they…or it?' Turns out, pretty cool.

Pat Wolseley who works in our Botany department explained that lichens are actually two types of organisms living together, a fungus and an alga. They have managed to carve out an existence by working together in a symbiotic relationship. The fungus makes the body that protects the alga and the alga provides the food for the fungus. Who said nature is red in tooth and claw!

Fun fact of the day No. 2, lichens are hardcore. They have been found everywhere from the cold arctic and hot deserts to rocky beaches and inner-city gravestones. Not only are some very tough, others are very sensitive to air quality and this makes them perfect when it comes to monitioring air pollution.

In simple terms, if you see this fluffy greenish beard lichen on trees (Usnea florida) you can be sure the air is clean or getting cleaner. However, if you find trees and stones covered with the golden shield lichen (Xanthoria parietina) there is a lot of nitrogen about.

Image caption: Usnea florida (above) and Xanthoria parietina (below)

Now you can tell the difference why don't you get involved in the OPAL air survey? Join the hundreds of people logging on and helping scientists answer questions about the quality of the air we breathe.

Last Thursday museum scientist Paul Barrett (the man when it comes to dinosaurs) took part in a Nature Live event on Dinosaur Diversity. We covered everything from the latest news about ginger dinosaurs to how we know what noise dinosaurs made. We also talked about Oxford Street!! More commonly associated with massive department stores and high street fashion, Oxford Street is currently home to some impressive animatronic dinosaurs!

As you can see from the photo below, Paul brought a few things from the museum collections with him. Notice the large lower jaw on the left of the photo (next to Paul) - a cast from a T-rex specimen. And, of course, there was the poo....dinosaur poo (hiding in the white box on top of the table and referred to as coprolites). Believe it or not, it is possible to find fossilised dinosaur poo - it's pretty hard, and no longer smells (!), but it can still help scientists to understand more about these remarkable animals.

What fish have your eaten in the last month? If it includes Cod, Salmon, Tuna or Haddock, then you are not alone! These are the most commonly eaten fish in the UK, and our appetite for them is putting pressure on their survival.

We are often told we should eat two portions of fish a week, as it's a really nutritious food, but at the same time warned that some fish are severely over-fished, that their stock levels are dangerously low, and that several species should be listed as endangered!

Well, there were lots of suggestions from our speakers. Oliver Crimmen, one of the foremost fish experts at the Natural History Museum, stated that there actually lots of different types of edible fish out there - by widening the types of fish we eat, and not just sticking to the same four main ones, that could help take the pressure off. However, we do need to have a good understanding of the ecology of our new choices.

Jo from the Billingsgate Seafood Training School prepared some delicious samples for our taste test - results up soon!

Tim Ferrero and Geoff Boxshall, also from the Zoology Department, talked about checking how your fish was caught, and also the aquaculture or fish farming option - with the global human population set to soar, could this be an answer?

Background to the quota system, and possible options at a governmental level were the focus of both Dr Kenneth Patterson from the European Commision, and Zoe Hodgson from DEFRA.

And finally, sustainability, eco labels, and how consumers can make a difference by Tom Pickerell, from the Shellfish Association of Great Britain. There are lots of different eco labels out there for fish - Tom recommends the Marine Stewardship Council stamp, as it takes into account lots of different considerations including stock levels, fish ecology, and how they are caught.

So next time you fancy some fish and chips, try a different fish (Coley was very popular in our taste test!) and check to see whether your fish has the MCS seal of approval.

Well one reason is that they are universal. Take the common grove snail (below). In English this creature is also known as the brown-lipped snail or the dark lipped banded snail. It becomes even more confusing if you go abroad; in Germany the same creature is called Hain-Baenderschnecke. So how do scientists make sure they’re all speaking the same language? They speak in science of course; usually a combo of Latin and Greek.

There are estimated to be 6809 different languages spoken around the world but wherever you go ‘Cepaea nemoralis’ will always mean the grove snail (or the brown-lipped snail or Hain-Baenderschnecke).

Some Latin names can be weird and wonderful; take Osedaz mucofloris, also known as the bone eating snot-flower. In today’s show we asked our visitors to pit their wits against a panel of scientists and guess which one was lying. Can you work it out? Which of these names is made up?

Abra cadabra or Megadoris russelensis or Rasta thiophila

Image: Cepaea nemoralis - or the common grove snail in England or the Hain-Baenderschnecke in Germany

With Christmas fast approaching, here in the Nature Live team we were thinking what would be a good subject to cover? Robins, mistletoe, frankincense? No, we decided to go with the story of the whale that swam up The Thames nearly 4 years ago! Sadly it died but did you know that we have its skeleton here in our reference collection?

Today we spoke to Louise Tomsett, mammal curator at the Museum, who talked us through the long and somewhat gory process that got it from the dockside into our collection. It took nearly a month and involved stripping and cleaning each of the bones individually in large vats of detergent. To get the really small bones clean they used the Museum’s smallest workers…flesh-eating beetles! It wasn’t until all the bones were clean that they could start piecing the skeleton together.

The Thames Whale holds a special place in the hearts of Londoners and it’s good to know that it will be preserved forever in the national collection where scientists researching these fascinating animals can study it.

As part of our Future for Nature season (which has been running on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the past few months) last Thursday I hosted an event about how much oil is left. Needless to say, it was very thought-provoking. Andy Fleet, from the mineralogy department, used to work in the petroloeum industry. He explained how oil is formed over millions of years and how it is found and extracted. For further information, he suggested visitors have a look at the website of The Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO) http://www.peakoil.net/ Here you'll discover the debate and discussion surrounding how much oil is left and whether we have reached a peak in oil production....or not. To give you an idea of the varying estimates, have a look at the graph below. This shows various predictions for when we will reach peak oil production, the majority of which suggest we have already reached the peak or will do so in the next ten years. There are a few estimates that suggest a continuing increase in oil production, but whatever the conclusion, one thing is for sure.....at some point, whether today or tomorrow, oil production will decline and we need to be ready with an alternative.

long with Darwin's 200th birthday celebrations, 150 years since the publication of On the Origin of Species and the International Year of Astronomy (marking 400 years since Galileo first looked up at the sky through a telescope).....2009 is also Year of the Gorilla.

To help celebrate Year of the Gorilla, we held an event with tropical biologist Ian Redmond last Tuesday. Ian is a well known figure in the world of gorilla and great ape conservation and speaks passionately about the plight of gorillas and the forests they live in. This year, he travelled to 8 of the 10 countries where gorillas are still found in the wild and wrote a blog as he went. He also filmed the people he met and recorded interviews with government officials, bushmeat traders and park wardens amongst others. To find out more, visit the Year of the Gorilla website

‘What’s a megatherium?’ That’s what I asked Saturday’s Nature Live audience. They looked as blank as I would have done, had I not already met palaeontology curator Andy Currant.

Andy looks after all the large mammal fossils within the palaeo department, and has a hoard of wonderful stories to tell about ancient giant animals that once roamed the land….Megatherium was a giant ground sloth, found in north and south America.

They’re a distant relative of today’s living tree sloths, and didn’t look that dissimilar. They went extinct about 10,000 – 12,000 years ago, but have left certain ‘evidence’ behind of their existence. As you would expect, there are bones – it’s estimated that a giant ground sloth could weigh about 2.5 tonnes, so their skeletons are massive! However, they also left behind skin and poo, of which we have some great examples! During Saturday’s event, Andy had a large piece of skin and a ball of dung, both about 13,000 years old. We let the audience have a feel and a closer look afterwards, and I was amazed at how fresh they still appear! The dung ball no longer really smells, but trust me, it still looks pretty fresh! If you missed the event but would like to see a Megatherium for yourself, there’s an impressive example at the end of the Marine Reptiles Gallery – an exhibit not to be missed on your next visit!

Here in Nature Live we never miss an opportunity to celebrate and Halloween is no exception.

Today we were on a mission to find the scariest creature in the sea. It was a face-off between Ollie Crimmen, fish curator, and Jon Ablett, mollusc curator, and it got pretty competitive in the studio!

Both of them chose some 'scary' sea creatures and had to convince our audience to vote for them. Who had the power to scare?

Jon chose to advocate the Geography Cone Snail, which looks harmless enough, and Ollie went with the angler fish.

Image credit: Kerry Matz

Above: Jon chose the venomous cone snail

Jon explained that although it looks unassuming do not underestimate this snail. To catch its prey it shoots a harpoon which contains venom so potent that it could kill a human. Some say that it could be the most venomous creature in the world in relation to its size.

Ollie chose the angler fish which definitely got the desired 'wow' effect when he revealed an impressive specimen that has been kept in alcohol for 15 years. He tried to win over the audience by explaining that these creatures live in the deep dark oceans and if you were the poor little fish it had lined up for lunch all you’d see are a few pretty lights and then it's lights out...for you.

Dying to find out who was crowned our Halloween winner? Well, no surprises for guessing that fangs beat the snail but if my vote counts for anything I would have chosen the deadly snail!

Do you know any really scary sea creatures? And no, the Loch Ness Monster doesn’t count...

.... was how the Museum was described to me on Sunday morning by a front of house colleague. He wasn't exaggerating! It was one of the busiest days I have seen in ages, the culmination of half term and the opening of the Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year. It was also suggested that the extra hour of sleep marking the end of Daylight Savings motivated parents to get their kids out of the house.

Nature Live was a humbling experience this weekend, featuring seven of the photographers featured in the exhibition. The exhibition seems to get better every year and hearing about the time and effort that went into each picture, I can see why.

The photographers spoke of the thousands of photos taken, miles walked and hours waiting to get that one perfect photo. One compared having his photo win in his category as "on a par with winning an Oscar".

It was such an honour to meet the winners and hear the audible gasps from the audience as they showed images from their portfolios, collected in wild places around the planet.

This photo, "Bald eagle and blackbird" won the Behaviour: Birds category. Taken by Rob Palmer from the USA, the photo helped lead to the discovery that the birds had eaten a poison that disabled their usually excellent defense mechanisms, leaving them as easy prey for eagles such as this one.